The bestselling artist is famous for hits like “Belle”, “Seul” and “Sous le Vent”, a duet performed with Celine Dion.

During his debut concert in Dubai, Garou surprised his fans with original musical mash-ups, incorporating songs from Ray Charles, X Ambassadors and Goo-goo dolls with his own work.

The artist shot to fame in 1998 after playing the part of Quasimodo in the musical theatre production of Notre-Dame de Paris.

However, he reveals to Euronews that The Hunchback is now a thing of the past for him, at least in terms of reprising the role on stage.

“I wouldn’t see myself doing this show again. I see myself more directing shows,” he says.

Garou has also been a coach in several editions of The Voice, both in Canada and France, and admits that it’s not always easy to identify what makes a spectacular performance by an aspiring singer.

“Is it good, is it not good? Is it touching me or not? It’s the mystery of all this that makes it fantastic and magical,” he says.

[MAIN SCRIPT – SECONDARY IMAGE 1]
Garou talks to Inspire Middle East on the occasion of his debut concert in the region

The artist, who performs both in English and French does not have a language preference when it comes to singing, but says that it does make a difference in terms of melody and emotion.

“I like the mixture of both, I love to mix both even in the same song.” he says. “For me, English is easier to sing on the phrasing, whilst French is about the words. The vocabulary of French is so rich.”

Despite two decades in the limelight, Garou admits to still not being comfortable listening to his own albums aloud.

“I prefer to listen to other artists, of course.” he says, “I hate analysing myself.”

The artist, who is a self-confessed workaholic, also reveals that he likes to make home improvements to his sprawling estate in Quebec when not touring.

“I’m trying to escape from fame in a way,” says the 46-year-old. “The whole summer I was working on my land in the forest. I was with my pickup truck, bringing rocks to build a road.

Russia’s money transfer system, developed as an alternative to SWIFT is now more popular than the global network, said Anatoly Aksakov, head of the Russian parliamentary committee on financial markets. Read Full Article at RT.com

UFC boss Dana White has revealed he met with Floyd Mayweather’s team to discuss the boxer making the switch to MMA to face Khabib Nurmagomedov, claiming that although White himself is skeptical Mayweather hasn’t ruled it out. Read Full Article at RT.com

Two people have been injured and a man arrested following a reported knife fight between kitchen staff at Sony's London HQ. Armed police were present at the scene and nearby buildings were evacuated. Read Full Article at RT.com

Land reforms proposed by South Africa’s president and ruling ANC party have come under questioning by the white minority,who happen to own most of the country’s private land since the end of apartheid in 1994.

The idea is to redistribute land from whites to blacks but some white farmers think that emerging black farmers often lack orientation.

Some of the white farmers warn against possible economic hold ups or civil unrest.
They are asking for strict compensation to accompany this expropriation scheme.

“ Well I’m not in favour of expropriation without compensation I don’t think it’s necessary, I think it’s going do more harm than good.” said Nick Serfontein.

The government says it has the situation under control.

“We are mindful of the nation-building project we have. We therefore want the land to be shared among those who work on it. And in doing so, we want South Africans to have property rights, property rights that will restore dignity, heal the wounds of the past and so on.” Cyril Ramaphosa S.A President.

Some critics are still to come to terms with the over all idea of land reforms as they think its more of a need for rapid urban sprawling which is a course for concern in South Africa.